The lovable characters of the Ice Age franchise face shifting lands and a scourge of the seas in Continental Drift, the fourth in the series of animated features with prehistoric protagonists. As has been the case with the previous sequels, new characters are introduced (some likely to remain though most won’t be around for the next installment) and the adventures are silly, action-filled fun. The movies are purely entertainment with the most negligible of messages about the value of friendship, but they’re innocent fun and are among the safest of animated movies for the entire family.
Ice Age: Continental Drift 3D (Blu-ray Combo Pack)
Directed by Steve Martino, Michael Thurmeier
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Year: 2012
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 1080p AVC codec
Running Time: 88 minutes
Rating: PG
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 English; Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish, French
Subtitles: SDH, Spanish
Region: A
MSRP: $ 49.99
Release Date: December 11, 2012
Review Date: December 12, 2012
The Film
3.5/5
When the eternally jonsing-for-acorns squirrel Scrat (Chris Wedge) inadvertently causes a seismic disturbance that breaks Pangaea into multiple continents, Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), and Diego (Denis Leary) are separated from the remainder of their herd on an iceberg and find themselves caught in a strong current drifting away from their loved ones. Out at sea, they run into a band of cutthroat pirates led by the guff and tough orangutan Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage) and his hearty band whose pirate ship carved from an iceberg rules the seas. Our heroes along with Sid’s grumpy Granny (Wanda Sykes) are going to have to work together if they’re to defeat the buccaneers and return to their herd using the pirate ship as their means of escape.
As reliably amusing as ever, the screenplay by Michael Berg and Jason Fuchs continues with character-based comedy which impacts stronger if someone has seen previous Ice Age movies. They are less reliant on Scrat for their comedy in this installment (who basically has three reasonably brief segments and then a longer final sequence) and more interested in probing Sid’s new family member a bit and also finally introducing a love interest for Diego in the person of pirate first mate Shira (Jennifer Lopez). As would be expected, their seas of love are rocky and rough for most of the picture as the two find themselves on opposite sides and have differing views on what’s important in each of their lives. The pirate Captain Gutt makes about as much sense in this prehistoric world as any of the other characters we’ve met (mammoths who hang in trees like opossums), but he’s not too scary for the younger family members while being the primary force for adventure in this fourth episode. He also has a fun pirate ditty “Master of the Sea” which is one of the more joyous sequences in the movie. In a direct steal from The Odyssey, our heroes come upon a group of sirens in another of the film’s most strongly animated sequences. As for the scenes dealing with Manny and Ellie’s (Queen Latifah) teen daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer) and her rebellion against parental authority, those scenes are much more prosaic, less interesting, and definitely less fun.
All of the returning characters do the expected excellent job sustaining their characterizations from previous movies (John Leguizamo’s sweet innocence as Sid still wins hands down among the regular characters), though fans of the series will be disappointed in the limited amount of screen time for the rascally Crash and Eddie (voiced by Seann William Scott and Josh Peck). Peter Dinklage gets right in the spirit of things with a superb voice creation for the pirate Gutt, and he’s met every step of the way by Aziz Ansari as a cutthroat rabbit who takes over as number one mate when Jennifer Lopez’s Shira switches sides. Wanda Sykes steals all of her scenes as the cantankerous Granny.
Video Quality
4.5/5
3D implementation – 5/5
The film has been framed at its theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and is presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. Sharpness is superb throughout and allows viewers to take close-up views on the incredible amount of detail that now seems required for all CGI animated films. Colors are bold and bright with greens and blues predominating. There is a bit of light banding in some of the backgrounds while the heroes are at sea, but it’s not a serious problem. Black levels are excellent. The film has been divided into 24 chapters.
The animators don’t miss a trick with making sure the 3D imagery is second to none. The depth in the backgrounds is wonderfully immersive, and animators have made sure to compose frames with always interesting placements of characters and objects on multiple planes. Forward projection is prominent throughout with any number of snouts, tusks, paws, knives, spears, and a pirate plank extending right into your viewing space. The 3D version should be unquestionably the de facto version for viewing if your home is 3D-capable.
Audio Quality
4.5/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 sound mix is a superb mixture of dialogue, sound effects, and music. The dialogue has been excellently recorded and has been placed in the center channel. The sound effects may not have quite the amount of sophisticated pans and immersive placements that the Pixar and Dreamworks animated films enjoy, but there will be few who’ll complain. John Powell’s music score gets outstanding treatment being spread throughout the soundstage. The LFE channel doesn’t feature quite as deep a bass usage as one might wish.
Special Features
4.5/5
All of the bonus features on both Blu-ray discs in the package are presented in 1080p.
The 3D Blu-ray disc contains a 3D promo trailer for Epic. There are also 3D excerpts from three Fox stereoptic films: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Rio, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
The second disc in the set contains the 2D version of the movie and these bonus features:
The film may be viewed in Party with a Pirate mode which brings the character of Squint (Aziz Ansari) into the letterbox portion of the screen to occasionally pop up (with other members of the crew) and comment on what’s going on with the movie. This feature is not exploited for the amount of fun and information it could have imparted.
A Sign-On mode is available for hearing disabled viewers, but it can’t be used in conjunction with the Party with a Pirate mode.
Ice Age: The Story So Far catches up viewers who are new to the franchise to the major events which have happened to the film’s main characters through the three previous movies. This runs 9 ½ minutes.
There are two deleted scenes (called “missing links”) shown storyboarded and in between animation. They may be viewed separately or in a 1 ¾-minute group.
“Voices Ahoy” introduces us to the voice actors of the pirate characters in the movie who talk about their characters and then are shown recording some of their roles. This runs 11 ¼ minutes.
“Capturing the Crew” features brief interviews with writers Michael Berg, Jason Fuchs, directors Steve Martino, Michael Thurmeier, producers Lori Forte, John Donkin, art director Nash Dunnigan, supervising animation director Nick Bruno, and other crew members talking about the plotting and planning for the various pirate crew without the use of costumes. This runs 14 ¾ minutes.
“Granny and the Stink of the Sloths” spends 9 ¼ minutes interviewing crew members and cast member Wanda Sykes about the introduction of Sid’s family in this fourth movie in the series.
“Drifts and Riffs” features the animators discussing the fun they had with altering the science of the real continental divide going from millions of years to mere minutes of occurrence. This runs 7 ¾ minutes.
“Beasties” deals with the way animators research prehistoric animals and use bits and pieces of their facts to fashion new creatures for these movies. It runs 8 ¼ minutes.
“Myths” relates several of the adventures of Odysseus and how they were adapted to adventures for the heroes of the movie in this 8 ¼-minute piece.
“Scrat Got Your Tongue?” pays tribute to Chris Wedge who does the squeaks and squawks for Scrat. We see him in the studio recording the role and then he gives us a primer on some of Scrat’s basic emotions in this 7-minute featurette.
“The Scratist” is a parody of The Artist with characters from Ice Age finding themselves inside a silent, black and white movie. It runs 2 ¼ minutes.
Four musical moments run a total of 10 ¾ minutes. They are ‘Gutt’s Sing Along to ‘Master of the Sea,’” “We Are” music video, “Chasing the Sea” music video, and “The Sid Shuffle” flash mob.
There are two theatrical trailers which run 2 ½ and 2 ¼ minutes respectively.
BD-Live offers one exclusive featurette: 3 ½ minutes of “Designing the Ice Age World.”
The disc contains promo trailers for Epic and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days.
The third disc in the set is the combination DVD/digital copy of the movie.
In Conclusion
4/5 (not an average)
Reliable family entertainment, Ice Age: Continental Drift has action, comedy, and heart without really excelling in any of those areas. It does feature splendid 3D imagery for those who are capable of appreciating it. And fans of the films will be equally delighted with a wide range of special features on this disc. Recommended!
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
(well most 3D) 
